any person, who has ever visited Tusheti even once, has had contacts with these open-hearted and most hospitable people, has felt a strange mixture of sadness and joy of life, carried by Tushetians, as a heritage received from their ancestors, has apprehended poetical nature of the world, in which Tushetians live and which they express in their poetic works, has listened to Tushetian songs, full of deep mysticism and metaphysical sorrow, has watched Tushetian dances, has felt intimate, visible closenesswith sons of god, while looking at the sky at daybreaks and nightfalls, cannot avoid keeping inside himself a nostalgia for this region. He easily understands whyTushetians take on heed of difficulties of the road and problems of living in the highland and why each spring Tushetians still mount their horses and go to spend several months in this fantastic world; you can also understand why you come across one or several men in each Tushetian village, who for some ten years spend especially cold winters among the snow-coveed mystic mountains, thus feeling involved in the oldest and everliving divine services to God.
On April 22, 2003 the Parliament of Georgia with support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank – financed
“Gorgia – Protected Areas Development Project” adopted the law on establishment of 8 new Protected Areas in the East Georgia.
The Tusheti Protected Areas are among them. They involve: the Tusheti National Park (83453 ha), the Tusheti Protected Landscape
(27903 ha), and the Tusheti State Nature Reserve (10694 ha) established in 1981. Tusheti State Nature Reserve was established in 1981.
It's located in Tusheti depression, the Eastern Caucasus, at 900 - 4 800 meters above sea leveland it is one of the biggest and high altitude parks on the territory of Europe. They lie 280 km away from Tbilisi.
The pine groves (Pinus sosnovkji) and birch groves (Betula litvinovii, B. raddeana) within the reserve are vitally important as they
provide habitats to the rare animal species, and present an erosion-preventive and water regulating system. The Nature Reserve comprises
the habitats of many rare and virtually extinct animal species. The following species should be noted: Wild goat, mountain goat, chamois,
wolf, lynx, bear, lammergeier, falcon, Golden Eagle, ect. This territory is especially important as the habitat for Anatolian leopard
(Panthera pardus).
Visitors are astonished by the severity and the beauty of Tusheti Mountains, intact and wild nature, environment of traditional
villages and delicious cooking, architectural monuments from past centuries that so closely intertwine in the beautiful nature and the
landscape of Tusheti. These are the memories that Tusheti offers to its visitors.